Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Trophy cats and spawing containers

I remember someone on this site mentioning that rainbow trout that do not have spawning habitat will likely never reach true trophy size because the stress of re-absorbing thier eggs shortens thier lives. I was wondering if this held true with catfish also. If so, would providing spawning containers help them reach ancient ages and great sizes?
-Scott

I am not sure how that works for fish that only spawn once a year. I know that bluegill grow larger up north because they don't use up so much energy on spawning. But they are probably unique because they spawn all the time as long as the water is the right temp.

As long as you have established population of LMB, I guess there is no harm in providing spawning habitat. But how do you provide spawning habitat for a trophy catfish? Tractor tires?

Not sure about your first question but as far as spawning I didn't think mine would have a chance of spawning in my small 1/3 acre pond but I did put several hollowed out logs about 10 ft long that the carpenter ants got to and I know that they did spawn last year cause I cought a 8 or 9 inch channel cat the other day and all the other cats were stocked over 3 years ago and all are 3-4 pounds up to about 8-9 pounds that we are catching. I also used some duct work that was 1 ft by 4' and about six ft long sections that I removed from the house during remodeling.

Bob

Finally!! another catfish topic man its been too long since we had one of these. The only two catfish I know that get to trophy size are Blues and Flatheads. I remeber on a post about a year ago, a guy grew his blues to 8 lbs in 18 months!! He said his secret was haveing his lake stocked heavily with bait fish, like fathead minnows threadfin shad and Gizzard shad. By the way these are the same elements used to grow trophy Bass as well, it is not different with the cats...

We sell catfish breeding houses. They are made from 100% recycled polyethylene, measures 28 inches in length, 16 inches in diameter and weighs 9 pounds. The hole opening on the top is 10 inches to allow the catfish to get in but not much else. They work great. JB if coming down to GA let me know so you can take some back. My catfish guy got rid of all his old habitats and replaced with these. BTW they sell for $25-$30 depending on quantity.

What type of forage do you have to grow large cats??